


Leave All Your Hate Behind

by asllapiscu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Pre-Time Skip, how else do you bond right?, leonie forces lorenz to exercise, lorenz forces leonie to a tea party, technically there's Byleth/Claude in the bg but it's too small to main tag it, this is all in good fun anyway, vaguely rivals to friends? if u think abt it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asllapiscu/pseuds/asllapiscu
Summary: Leonie didn't want to spend her day with Lorenz. She would rather be doing anything else! But it's just one day. She can handle one day... Right?(Commission for a friend on discord !!)
Relationships: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Leonie Pinelli
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Leave All Your Hate Behind

**Author's Note:**

> A commission for someone in a shared server who want to surprise their friend ! This was fun to write, ty for commissioning me!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy !

Leonie stands before Byleth’s office, taking a deep breath. She’s trying to calm her nerves, trying not to psych herself out too much before seeing her professor. It’s not like Byleth is going to reprimand her or anything—

Okay, no. Leonie pats her face and tries to hype herself up. It’s just her professor. It’s just  _ Byleth. _ Surely there’s a good reason she chose Leonie for an upcoming assignment. Out of everyone else in the class? It must be a good sign! It has to be!

So, she knocks on the door and waits for a response. When she hears a firm  _ “Yes?” _ on the other side, she takes one last breath before opening the door.

“Hey professor, you needed to see me?”

Byleth nods, her expressionless face the same as always. Leonie wishes she could see inside her professor’s head, understand what _really_ goes on in there. After all, she’s _Jeralt’s_ _daughter!_ For her to entrust Leonie with a new assignment and no one else… Well, Leonie would be lying if she didn’t admit to being excited (but she would to being nervous).

“I’ve been noticing a pattern,” Byleth starts, and Leonie nearly smiles. “And it’s starting to become a… concern.”

Leonie’s smile becomes strained. This doesn’t sound good.

“A concern? What do you mean?” By this point, any nerves Leonie had are now washed away with confusion and maybe a little bit of anger. She won’t go on the defensive, not just yet. She’ll hear her professor out, at least. 

“It’s come to my attention that you and another student haven’t been on the best of terms. At first, I merely kept an eye on you both to ensure it wasn’t too big of a problem… That is, until someone else came to me with the same observation.”

“A problem? With another student?” Leonie does her best not to crack, but the only person she can think of having an issue with is—

Then, there’s a knock on the door. Leonie’s caught off guard by it, more so when Byleth responds with a calm “Just on time. Come in Claude.

Leonie nearly sees  _ red. _ Or rather, it’s more so purple, as Claude waltzes in with  _ Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. _ Gods, maybe she did have a right to be nervous from the beginning.

“L-Leonie!? Now wait just a second! Claude, you said the professor wished to see me for an important assignment. Why is Leonie here?”

No. No no no no  _ no. _

“A great question, Lorenz!” Claude laughs as he says that, his smile telling Leonie that he already knew the answer.  _ Of course _ Claude noticed it, too. He’s their house leader. Next to Byleth, he’s impossibly perceptive. “Teach and I have been watching the two of you for quite some time now. We’re worried about the two of you—really!—so we came up with a plan.”

Leonie could feel her heart drop as she turns to face Byleth, and it drops  _ lower _ when her professor nods in agreement.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Byleth confirms as she beckons for both Lorenz and Leonie to come closer. They eye each other, then instinctively at the door—which is already guarded by Claude. He shakes his head and flashes a smile.

Future head of the Alliance or not, Leonie wishes nothing more than to use him as target practice at this very moment.

“Tomorrow I am taking you two off your usual duties and enforcing that you spend the time to relax and understand each other better. I can’t risk your behavior affecting how you perform on the battlefield.”

“But professor—!” Both Leonie and Lorenz shout at the same time, and look at each other upon realization. Leonie glares at Lorenz, who clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. They both hear Byleth sigh and Claude laugh, making Leonie feel like a scolded child caught red handed.

“This is  _ exactly _ what Teach means! You two need to play and get along!”

“You make us sound like  _ children,” _ Lorenz scorns, Leonie not liking how he mirrored her thoughts. As much as she hates to admit it, Byleth and Claude do bring up a good point, though. Lorenz has been getting on Leonie’s nerves as of late, and if this keeps up, who knows where she’ll turn her bow to next.

She sighs in defeat, looking over at Byleth.

“It’s just one day, right?” Leonie clarifies, making Lorenz gape and Byleth smile.

Maybe it won’t be  _ so _ bad. 

  
  
  
  


Except that Leonie is already  _ pissed. _

Yes, she’s definitely pissed off—because instead of training or helping out absolutely anyone else, she’s forced to spend the day with  _ Lorenz. _ She groans loudly and her arms are crossed as Lorenz takes careful sips of his tea. She knows she resigned herself to this “assignment” (can it even be called one?), but why do they have to have  _ tea? _ Can’t they just train and call it a day?

But Lorenz doesn’t  _ want _ to train. In fact, Byleth and Claude were very clear that they can’t do  _ any _ sort of work or training because their exact orders were “relax together and have fun.” This was a mistake.

Leonie angrily snatches a cookie from the pastry tray, and loudly munches on it. She hears a scoff from the other side of her, seeing Lorenz turn up his nose in disbelief. She rolls her eyes and swallows the bit of cookie she just ate.

“What’s wrong,  _ your noble-ness? _ Am I too loud for your delicate ears?” Leonie teases before taking another loud  _ crunch! _ of the cookie she has left, eyeing Lorenz. His face is scrunched up and turning red, which is actually kind of funny. She only aggressively bit into the cookie at first out of frustration, but  _ this _ is just fun now.

“Maybe you are,” he sneers, reaching over for a cookie himself. Huh, Leonie didn’t peg him as a cookie type. Fanciful cakes and only the most decadent of finger sandwiches, sure. But now that she takes an actual look at the accompaniments for their “forced” tea party, she only sees scones, cookies, and tarts. Well, tarts aren’t that basic of a pastry, yet it somehow blends in well enough with the rest of the tray. It’s… actually all pretty normal. She glances over to her tea now too, noticing how it just looks like regular tea. She hasn’t taken a sip yet, mostly in defiance, but the aroma is tempting her. “But I would have thought that even as a lady you would have better manners when invited out.”

Leonie is nearly ready to bite back at his remark, but the aroma of her tea just won’t leave her be. She smells the heavy spices and soon realizes that this is her favorite blend. Did Lorenz know? She barely drinks tea, let alone joins any of her classmates when they invite her. So she offers Lorenz a begrudging smile and clears her throat.

“To be honest Lorenz, I don’t spend as much time as  _ you _ do in things like this. I—”

“Yes yes, you train daily and work hard to become a strong and capable asset to an army.”

Leonie freezes at that, surprised by how well Lorenz read her just now. He is right, after all; all she does is train, help around the monastery, eat, sleep, and repeat. She scrowls to herself for a moment before grabbing her tea cup and bringing it up to have a taste.

And  _ oh Goddess it’s the best damn tea she’s ever had. _ What in the hell?! There’s no way he made this. But the curl of his lips as he rests his chin on his hands, watching her reaction to the tea… She’s lost her advantage. She is losing in Lorenz’s territory and she—well, she doesn’t necessarily  _ hate _ it. But she doesn’t like the idea of losing, either! She places her cup down and clears her throat once more.

“All right Lorenz, I’m sure you’ve had your fun, but who actually made this tea? Was it Marianne? Lysithea?” But instead of confusion or irritation, she hears Lorenz laugh— _ laugh! _ She blinks in surprise, watching him go from mild hysterics to composing himself and brandishing his “best” noble smile. Ugh.

“Is it so hard to believe I really made this tea myself?”

_ Of course it is! _ Leonie screams in her head as she (carefully) takes another sip.  _ Dammit, it’s still perfect! What the hell! _

“I just don’t  _ understand. _ I thought brewing tea would be,” and as she says this, she sits more upright and takes on a “pompous” aura as she prepares her best snooty voice. “So utterly and terribly beneath you!” When she’s done, it’s now Lorenz staring back at her with a blank expression, before he breaks into another wide smile and laughs  _ again! _ Seriously! What is with him all of a sudden?!

“That’s a fair assumption, Leonie,” he says after his laughter dies down, and smiles  _ again. _ He just keeps  _ smiling. _ Leonie thought they hated each other—don’t they? He definitely annoys her. She’s sure she annoys him too, sometimes. That’s why Claude and Byleth forced them to do this. So why is this… kinda fun? “But I take all my assignments very seriously. Besides, as a nobleman, it is expected of me to learn of and get along with the common folk.”

Leonie sighs and rolls her eyes. There it is, his “noble” talk. He used this same excuse when she asked him for help in polishing weaponry a few weeks ago. Maybe that’s where the annoyance and disdain really came from. She taps a finger onto the table and looks back over to Lorenz.

“Noble this, commoners that—we’re  _ classmates _ Lorenz. I thought we went over this already. Look, I know we can get at each other’s throats sometimes, and this entire ‘assignment’ is meant to help fix that, but you’re really making it hard when you can’t even admit to seeing me as a  _ friend.” _ When she finishes, she sees that her words struck some sort of nerve in Lorenz, because now  _ he’s _ frozen. She could almost smirk at that. Instead, she grabs her tea and finishes it, standing up and grabbing Lorenz’s hand to pull him up too.

“L-Leonie what are you—”

“We had your tea time. Now it’s time for  _ my _ relaxation technique!”

“But all the pastries!”

“We’ll wrap them up and give them to Lysithea. Now come on, we’re losing daylight!”

  
  
  
  


When out in the forest, Leonie feels  _ whole. _ Just one lungful of the air is enough to ground her and give her all the strength she needs to take on any challenge ahead. Especially if that challenge is Lorenz. Byleth and Claude said they can’t do any work or training—but they never said that  _ exercising _ was out of the question. When Leonie thought about it, it had been a while since her last run. She humors the idea of adding it back to her routine.

Then she hears panting and turns around, spotting a heaving Lorenz. Now isn’t  _ that _ a sight to see. They’ve only been running for three miles! Perhaps Lorenz needs to focus less on tea, and more on increasing his stamina.

“Come on Lorenz! I know you can do better than that!”

“L-Leonie, how is  _ this _ relaxing?!” Lorenz is clearly out of breath, bending down to rest his hands on his knees as he tries to compose himself. “The professor and Claude said we can’t train!”

“They never said anything about exercising! Never had a good morning run before?”

“It’s nearly evening now!” Lorenz barely shouts, falling over onto the grass. Leonie giggles, and walks over to the melodramatic noble. “I-I think we should stop here.”

“Really? But we haven’t hit half of my usual goal.”

_ “Half?!” _ Lorenz screams and Leonie laughs. She’s exaggerating, as she runs between five to seven miles when she really puts her mind to it. But she takes a seat on the ground next to her exhausted “friend,” and passes him a water bottle.

“You don’t even feel a little refreshed? Clearer mind or anything?” She watches Lorenz for his reaction, and after a few beats and heavy breathing, a strained smile spreads across his face.

“Well, once I get past the nausea and sweating, I  _ suppose _ I feel… hm. I feel tired, but strangely energized?”

Leonie actually beams at his response.

“Right?! Usually when I’m really stressed or stuck, if I can’t train, I’ll just  _ run. _ I love jogging through the woods around here, I practically have this route memorized for even my bow practice. Just feeling the breeze and breathing in the trees clears my head and all my stress melts away…” When she finishes, she realizes how much she’s rambled and becomes flustered by how  _ easy _ it was to open up to  _ Lorenz _ of all people. He even looks surprised by her honesty, but his smile is actually reassuring.

“I feel the same way about my tea times. Brewing my own tea and taking in the aroma of it removes all worries and doubts I may have had. Wonderful company and idle chatter doesn’t hurt at all, either,” he smiles again, and this time Leonie feels flustered for… a different reason. In fact, her heartbeat is suddenly picking up pace as if she’s running again, despite sitting perfectly still on the ground. 

Oh no.

She suddenly shoots up and stretches her back and arms. She releases a (mostly fake) yawn and turns away from Lorenz.

“Wow! Look at this darkening sky! You said it’s evening, right? Guess we should go to the dining hall and call it a day! I’m sure the professor won’t mind how we spent our day!”

“Leonie—”

“Yep! Great! Okay! Sounds like a perfect plan! I’m gonna go take a nice hot bath! See you in the dining hall Lorenz!”

And before Lorenz could get another protest in, Leonie just begins jogging again, more nervously than before, straight to the monastery.

  
  
  
  


When she arrives at her room, all washed up and changed into fresh clothes, she sighs and looks at herself in her mirror. She grabs her hairbrush and begins to brush out any remaining droplets from her hair, desperately trying not to think about…  _ him. _ Gods, this is  _ ridiculous. _ One day! They only spent  _ one day together _ and suddenly it’s like all the previous weeks of annoyance and frustration is swept under the rug because maybe Lorenz isn’t actually as annoying as she once thought! What a stupid notion. One day can’t change a thing, clearly. Tomorrow, they’re just going to go back to annoying each other and disagreeing about every little thing.

Leonie stops brushing her hair and puts the brush down. The thought of things “going back to normal” suddenly opened a hole in her chest. Was it really so bad that maybe she and Lorenz did get closer today? That maybe she wanted them to have a normal friendship? That maybe—

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be alongside Lorenz after all?

She stares at herself in the mirror, examining herself. She’s not feminine, not even a tiny bit girly. She’s a commoner, rough around the edges, and not at all delicate. She likes who she is—hell, she  _ loves _ it. There’s nothing wrong with femininity, and is glad her fellow classmates can embrace theirs so easily. She just always saw herself more so as practical, ready for battle. But she looks at herself more in the mirror and grabs a strand of her hair before letting it fall. A thought crosses her mind before she sighs and puts it right back deep into her heart. Now’s not the time for such silly thoughts or notions.

Leonie pats her face and gives herself a thumbs up. Tomorrow’s a new day, she’ll tell the professor and Claude everything’s more or less better with Lorenz, and they’ll continue on with their lives at the academy. She’s here to become strong, the best fighter around—and nothing will stop her from achieving this goal. Not even some dumb, petty faults she once had with Lorenz. She’ll put that behind her, starting today. The only thing she can do is move forward.

And forward she will go.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on twt @/mythxl tsym for reading !!


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